a lot of complaints on the peninsula from residents after a new company takes over trash services. will he or won't he? ed lee is about to disclose whether or not he will become san francisco's new mayor. >> reporter: and why caltrans has closed down a major avenue so they can complete a construction project. it's all ahead on the ktvu channel 2 news at noon.

good afternoon. a problem that's creating quite a stink for many residents in san mateo county. the garbage collection issues stem from a switch in companies from allied waste to rekolojy this week. in the first three days since r ecolojy started the job, complains have poured in, most for late or missed pickup. just yesterday, a driver drove over a rock that punctured his gas tank and 50 gallons of diesel leaked into a nearby storm drain. residents are frustrated. >> it's so much different for u s. i don't know it it's better for us or not, a new company. >> the company serves 40,000

people between burlingame and alpo alto. swee a -- and palo alto. we'll have more on this tonight at 5:00 and 6:00. the only democrat on the california supreme court announced his retirement. justice carlos moreno submitted race resignation saying he will step down on the 28th. he was the only one to strike down proposition 8 that bans gay marriage. one of the candidates that governor brown is expected to consider as a replacement, martin jenkins. ed lee is not san f rancisco's interim mayor, at least not yet. but supporters of the city's administrator are still holding an event celebrating the fact that he seems close to getting that message. lee is not at the event, he's not even in the country right now. rob roth joins us with more on what is happening there.

good afternoon, rob. >> reporter: tori, here in this restaurant in chinatown, many asian-americans are inside celebrating. supporters of the city administrator ed lee are about to announce he is to fill out the last year of gavin newsom's final year in office. they say lee has the necessary votes to become interim mayor. lee is on vacation in hong kong but will issue a written statement agreeing to the job. the supporters in the a sian- american community say it took a lot of arm twisting to get lee to say yes. >> i persuaded him that is for the good of the city. he cares deeply, like we all did do, about the city, and he has the experience and the know- how running all of those major departments. so it's just an added

perfunctory title. >> reporter: lee had been reluctant to take job because he didn't want to give up his post as city administrator but apparently he's had a clang of heart. now, he would -- change of h eart. he would become the first a sian-american mayor of san francisco. rob roth, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, rob. oakland mayor jean quan o utlined her vision. she spoke to the lake merritt breakfast club, a group that meets quickly to promote lake merritt and the area behind it. she repeated the call she made in her inauguration speech for the people getting involved to make oakland a better place. >> i want us all to dream about oakland's future. that's the first task. the second task, i've been a sking everyone to consider volunteering an hour a week. >> she wants to develop ways to keep young people in school, off the streets and away from

crime. president obama this morning named a new white house chief of staff. william daly will replace ron emanuel. daly served as commerce -- william daley is a senior executive with morgan chase. republicans kicked off their first full day of power in the house with something that's never been done before. >> we, the people, of the united states in order to form -- >> new house speaker john boehner ordered the entire u.s. constitution to be read out l oud. some democrats, including new minority leader, nancy pelosi, took part. boehner took up the party's first order of business later -- the reform of the healthcare l aw. >> the evidence is overwhelming that this healthcare law, by raising taxes, imposing new mandates and increasing uncertainty is already d estroying jobs in our

country. >> the house rules committee is already setting up a plan for the repeal vote next week and today, the rhetoric got pretty heated. >> i suggest that we pull obama care out by the roots, root and branch, lock stock and bearable, eradicate it completely and leave not one vestage of its dna behind because the tumor is malignant. >> you know the 13% think is -- of americans think the bill is not strong enough. the rest, they support it. a big retrofit project is underway in oakland. it means headaches for drivers. caltrans has closed fifth avenue between embarcadero and 8th. that section of road runs under i-880 which is the subject of the major construction job. kraig debro joins us with more on the project. good afternoon, kraig. >> reporter: good afternoon,

tori. work on this 170 million-dollar project started at 7:30 this morning. that's when crews shut down fifth avenue. take a look at those four metal beams on either side of fifth avenue. well, we were here this morning when crews moved them into p lace. according to a construction supervisor i spoke with, each of these things weighs 19 tons. each was moved in by a crane. this is called the fifth avenue retrofit project. it's one of eight up and down -- down 880. crews say this part will be done in 20 -- 2013. they will do this in three s tages of when the project is finished, it will like like your screen on the right. it will be up to 12 feet wider and seismically safer than the old road built after world war ii. crews have to do it in part in

order to accommodate i-80 traffic. >> this is one of the most difficult projects i've been on. we have to build the bridge, demo the center out, move traffic over. we have to do it in stages. we can't just build it and l eave. >> so after the first stage is done, crews will divert southbound 880 traffic onto the new roadway while they tear down and build up the middle section and repeat the process with the northbound lanes. take a look at this 4046 ton train. it's just getting ready to -- 40-ton crane. caltrans says fifth avenue is scheduled to be reopened at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. reporting live in oakland, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, kraig. >> the 2011 silicon valley international aid toe show began two hours ago. it's packed with hundreds of new cars, crossovers and hybrids. here the public can check out

all of the new vehicles under one roof, learn about auto technology and even test drive a few models. tom vacar joins us from the car show in san jose with more. good afternoon, tom. >> reporter: the san jose silicon valley international auto show began its four-day run at 10:00. it's here at the san jose convention center. 400 cars are on display, i ncluding the chevy, the new toyota plug-in prius hybrid, the super-fuel efficient fiesta and even a hybrid bmw for d eep- pocket car buyers, plus all of the high-end exotics. starting tomorrow, there will be a driving. it's all about technology but it's about saving gasoline. >> people are realizing it's more than just one answer.

it's not gonna be just gas or diesel or hydrogen fuel cell. it will be a combination of options of what we use for our transportation. >> reporter: a rising economic tide. now last year, u.s. auto buyers purchased 11 million. this year, experts predict 13 or more. a lot of them will happen here. that's a sure sign of economic recovery. some, the labor report comes o ut. if it mirrors or passes the add report of 75,000 jobs reported this week, even that 13 million might be a conservative figure. even, the show is open and it runs through sunday. reporting live, i'm tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. a lot of cool stuff, thank you, tom. just ahead -- a new development in the trial that followed the death of anna nicole smith. more lawsuits are coming

against pg&e following the pipeline explosion in san bruno. mark tamayo is up soon with the forecast and he will tell us why the bay area is seeing so much fog. car burglars are going high t ech. we'll-- we'll hear from the woman who shot this video.

police this morning swept through a house in east oakland after they arrested a man there holding an assault pistol base on information from neighbors. officers core denned off the house and got a search warrant. police went through the house with police dogs where they said they found an assault rifle and drugs. police say most of the six people in the house at the time were parolees. another american is r eportedly being held in iran on spying charge. an iranian newspaper says a 55- year-old woman had spying equipment hidden on her body when she arrived in iran from neighboring armenia without a visa. shane bauer and josh fattal have been imprisoned in iran since july of 2009, facing spying charges. sarah shourd was released last september on compassionate grounds. the three grads all adamantly deny the spy charges. today's "wall street j

ournal" reports the u.s. plans to send 1400 more marines to afghanistan. they want to increase the forces this spring to fight the t aliban. the troops have been told to be ready for duty in just a few weeks. at the same time, the obama administration is sticking by its pledge to start withdrawing u.s. troops this summer. the ultimate goal is for the u.s. to completely hand over security to afghan forces by the year 2014. blueshield of california policyholders, some of them, about the company's third p lanned rate hike in less than six months. blueshield says it needs to raise rates starting march 1st because of its increasing costs from new healthcare laws but some consumers say that means they will be paying nearly 60% more than they did just last september. 19,000 individual policyholders would be affected by the change. the state insurance commissioner is reviewing the rate hike. san bruno city leaders are

grappling with the tough decision, how to dis-- dispurse $400,000 donated to help the pipeline victims. last night city officials heard from frustrated victims. city leaders say there's no agreement on how to do it. some feel it should be given equally to all victims, while others feel the people who lost a home or loved one should get more. other ideas include paying for home insured repairs, the creation of a memorial or establishing a scholarship for kids in the area. city leaders could make a final decision next tuesday. the number of lawsuits is growing in last september's d eadly pipeline explosion in san bruno. the "daily journal" reports seven more lawsuits were filed against pg&e last month. they accuse the power company of negligence in the disaster that killed eight people and d estroyed dozens of homes. pg&e is still awaiting the s

tate's decision about whether one judge should hear all of the lawsuits tied to the disaster. a judge has dismissed c harges against howard k. stern and anna nicole smith's psychiatrist. steve cooley, says the decision made by the judge diminishes the huge problem of prescription medication abuse. and he says this denigrates the efforts by the state department of justice and the state medical board. it looks like the fog is not going away any time soon but the sun is melting it away. bay area bridges were quite foggy this morning. it could be a few days before the wind blows the fog away, especially in the central v alley. let's check in now with our meteorologist, mark tamayo for more on the fog.

that fog still stubborn across parts of the bay area, really having a big impact on our temperatures. a look outside. we can show you first in san francisco, we actually have fare skies. a bit of a breeze. that breeze is impart -- is importing some of that fog. right now, san francisco, 46 degrees. but a completely different picture of walnut creek, right around 40 degrees with still some dense overcast. right now on the maps you can see the coverage and the extensive cloud cover out in the central valley. all of this fog as a result of the recent fog we've had. you can still see some fog for fairfield, also right around con cored a -- concord and also up in sonoma county for the inland valleys. the fog is really stubborn in a few of those neighborhoods. as a result, the temperatures are only in the 30s to the 40s at 12:00 hour in a few bay area neighborhoods. here is the forecast for today as we take a look at that for you. we do have some fair skies out

there for right around the bay and right nower -- right near the immediate coastline. temperatures will continue. here is a look at the current numbers updated. santarosa, 37. chilly. you get an idea where the fog i s, out near fairfield, concord, but closer to the coastline and also for the south bay in the 40s to the lower 50s. the plan for today is this. still some lingering fog, otherwise hazy sunshine. the clouds will be on -- the clouds will be on the increase. that brings in it a chance for rain showers. the stormtracker is heading way up north and as a result, we have the dry weather pattern. this still shows lingering clouds in the afternoon. we do have the fog regrouping for tonight and also early for tomorrow morning for your friday. a few high clouds will be on the increase. at 3::00 this afternoon, valley fog, mid-40s to the mid-50s by 5:00. 43 to 48 degrees. still some patchy fog by 9:00

more fog, those temperatures in the upper 30s to the 40s. here is a look at the highs, you get an idea where the persistent fog bank is, away from that plenty of sunshine. here is a look ahead. we'll hold on to this weather pattern, some dense fog in the morning hours. but hazy sunshine into the afternoon. temperatures remain in the low to mid-50s. increasing clouds on monday. those clouds eventually could produce rain showers beyond monday, possibly tuesday and into wednesday of next week. >> thank you, mark. >> sure. some car thieves in the oakland hills are going high tech. one victim took video of the crime in progress. it shows a criminal stealing items from her locked toyota highlander without breaking the windows. he's using a device that o verrides the security system and unlocks the doors using remote control. the woman who took this video did not want to reveal her last name. >> it just seems like it's a

matter of time when they figure out how to start it. >> burglars are hit a handful of cars in the oakland hills in recent months. all those victims own toyota highlanders. a toyota spokesperson tells ktvu they are not aware of anyone hacking into the remote- control security system. later today, a salvage crew plans to finally tow away the crab boat from half moon bay. the 65-foot und early tuesday morning but the coast guard didn't want to r emove it until 2,000 gallons of fuel was removed. that job was completed last night. just ahead -- we got some news that will have stanford football fans breathing a sigh of relief. also, the fortunes of change for this homeless man, thanks to his voice.

stocks are mixed today, amid the expected reports for tomorrow. right now, the dow is currently down 43 at 11,67 -- 11,4678. stanford fans are breathing a sigh of relief. andrew luck just announced he's

staying in school for another year instead of entering the n fl. he was considered the f ront- runner to be the number one pick in the draft by carolina. he wants to stay at stanford so he can graduate from stanford next year. it's still up in the air whether jim harbaugh will be there next year. he's been mentioned as a head coach for every team that has an opening. retails are reporting big gains in sales. the international council of shopping centers says sales were up 3.8% higher in november and december than the year before. that's the biggest year-to-year increase since 2006. analysts say even the sales d ropped off, some in december because of severe weather the week after christmas. they were so strong in november, the two months together pro d iced solid results -- produced solid results. a man homeless a few days

ago is getting a new start all because of his voice. >> when you're listening to nothing but the left of oldies, you are listening to magic. >> on monday, 53-year-old ted williams was panhandling on the streets of columbus, ohio. a reporter decided to shoot a video of him after shing says sign that said "i have a g od- given voice." the video was posted on youtube and has been viewed more than 11 million times. williams' mother said she's thrilled with her son's overnight success. >> i don't know. i went out there and they were talking about the man with the golden voice. i said who is that? that's your son! >> williams took voice lessons in school but got caught up with alcohol and drugs and ended up homeless. he says he's been clean and sober for two years. williams has been offered a job to announce for the cleaveland cavaliers and also kraf t-mac

carona and cheese. coming up on the news at 5:00, governor brown is a w asting no no -- is wasting no time about announcing spending. he's said to eliminate the office of secretary of education and the superintendent of pub linnic stuntion and board of education. brown says the job amounts to bureaucratic redundancy. that story and more coming up at 5:00. thanks for watching. have a great day. w t ileororr li irore